Professors: Textbook bill a bad idea

Proposal to limit costs would hinder education, they say

Area professors say one lawmaker's attempt to reduce college textbook
costs would hurt instructors' ability to provide quality education.

State Rep. Abel Herrero, D-Robstown, recently filed House Bill 960,
which would require higher education institutions to encourage faculty
to use the same required textbook for three years. The bill, filed Jan.
30, is intended to stem rising textbook costs by allowing students to
sell textbooks back to bookstores and purchase less expensive used
books more often.

"We hope this will reduce the cost of college, so it remains in
reach of low-income families," Herrero said.

But Susan Roberson, a Texas A&M University-Kingsville English
professor and interim chair of the Communications and Theatre Arts
Department, said there are cases when textbooks have to be updated - to
the detriment of students' pocketbooks.

"Everyone I know is concerned with costs," she said. "But
ultimately, we need to give these students quality education, even if
that means changing textbook editions."

Students required to buy new editions for books typically have to
pay full price, as opposed to buying a used book for a class at much
reduced prices. In addition, students seeking to sell books back to a
bookstore can't if the course's professor changes the textbook.

Rising textbook costs in recent years have been a target for
lawmakers nationwide. The U.S. Government Accountability Office in 2005
released a study determining that the costs of textbooks had risen at
twice the rate of inflation between 1986 and 2004.

The textbook law would be a welcome change for A&M-Kingsville
kinesiology student Jorge Mendoza, who said he spent about $250 last
semester for books and received $15 from the bookstore when he
attempted to sell them back. The store bought back only one book.

"It's pretty much every year," Mendoza said. "The books that cost
the most; it seems like we have to buy new editions of those each
semester, and then you can't sell them back."

Textbook costs vary. Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
business students, in their second semester this spring, would have to
purchase "The Bedford Researcher," which costs $35.65 new and $26 used.
They also would have to buy "Geography: Realms, Regions and Concepts" -
which costs $117.70 new and $88.30 used.

A&M-Corpus Christi history professor Pat Carroll said a law such
as the one proposed by Herrero would keep instructors from finding
better textbook options for their classes.

"I'm not sure it is the right thing to do," he said. "The incentive
(in changing textbooks) for faculty is to present the best published
material that they can. Faculty members usually find better books out
there."

Herrero also is sponsoring House Bill 956, along with state Rep.
Scott Hochberg, D-Houston. That bill would require instructors to
require only textbooks they plan to use for the course. It also would
require that instructors provide less-expensive alternatives, such as
online texts.

Herrero said House Bill 960 would focus on textbooks in basic
courses that do not have to update as often.

Roberson said regardless of the subject, limiting instructors'
choices each semester is not the answer.

"There are some edition changes that are significant," she said.
"You need to have the freedom to change the textbook. I guess my
individualism does not like that kind of legislation."